Word: devilment
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...authors of Satan see no reason to doubt the historical evidences of the Devil's existence-from witchcraft to the temptations of the saints. Writes the late Father Herbert Thurston, S.J., in his essay: "That such a thing as witchcraft exists or has existed in the world no Christian can deny who believes his Bible to be the inspired Word of God. It is impossible to suppose that the story of the witch of Endor [7 Kings 28: 7-25], of Simon Magus* [Acts 8: 9-24] ... are to be understood merely as allegories...
Exorcists & Psychiatrists. While sticking up for the existence of demonic possession, the authors readily concede that many people reportedly "possessed by the Devil" probably belong in the psychiatrist's consulting room, not the chapel. The frantic witch burnings of the 16th century, furthermore, in which Protestants and Catholics participated with equal zest, are explained in Satan largely as the products of their times. This heyday of witch burnings, black Masses (i.e., profane renderings of the Catholic Mass) and Devil worship, writes Belgian Scholar Emile Brouette, represented "the dawn of the false empire of Satan in a Europe gripped...
Nowadays, there are few cases of Satan's direct "interference" in human affairs. The rite of exorcism is still authorized (in the Greek Orthodox as well as the Roman Catholic Church) for the purpose of driving out the Devil from a possessed person. But almost no cases of a real "possession" occur. Contributor Joseph de Tonquedec, S.J., designated as the Grand Exorcist of the Archdiocese of Paris, has not come across a case of pure possession in 20 years...
...Devil disappeared? Answers Father Thurston: "His tactics must be expected to change as the tone of men's minds changes . . . When the belief in God was too firmly rooted to be assailed with any hope of success, it may have suited the, Devil's purpose best to inflame the passions ... by the arts and illusions of witchcraft. In our own day, when faith is fast decaying and the greed of knowledge is keen, it may pay him better to foster such vague cults as Theosophy and Spiritualism...
...generals had a perverse occupational disease: they didn't like to fight. Like most civilians, Lincoln thought that generals were supposed to fight, and" in his letters he kept begging them to do so. If the Confederacy's Lee and Jackson could raise the devil using smaller numbers, why couldn't the North, with men just as brave, get in a sound lick now & then? Sadly the President was forced into a job he did not want and was not prepared for. He became his own general. Not until he gratefully handed the job to Grant...